Just three seasons ago, Cooper Rush was being hailed as the savior of the Dallas Cowboys.
Now, just over a month removed from the last game of the 2024 season, Rush’s days in Dallas may be over.
Roster Review 2025: Cooper Rush. This is Part 2 of a series. Click here for a list of all related articles.
In the 2022 season opener, Dak Prescott went down with a dislocated thumb in a loss to Tampa Bay. Rush would be asked to start at least several games while Prescott recovered.
The year before, Rush had filled in for one game while Prescott nursed a strained calf.
Down three with less than three minutes to go in Minnesota, Rush engineered a game-winning drive. His five-yard pass to Amari Cooper gave the Cowboys a 20-16 win over the Vikings and a 6-1 record.
In 2022, he would win the next four games before a loss at Philadelphia in his final start.
Still, those four critical wins helped Dallas finish at 12-5 and earn a wildcard playoff spot.
So, when Prescott went down at the midway point of the 2024season, there was still hope, despite a 3-5 record. Unfortunately, the Rush magic never materialized this time around.
He actually finished the year with a slightly better won-loss record (4-4) than Prescott (3-5) with 1,677 yards in his eight starts along with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions.
For the entire year, Rush had 1,844 yards, 12 touchdowns, and five interceptions. Trey Lance started and played all of the season finale last year.
Rush absorbed 13 sacks and fumbled nine times, recovering five of his own fumbles.
In the final analysis, Rush simply did not have it when the Cowboys could still have turned the season around.
As the team had been struggling under Prescott, all of the blame for Rush’s struggles can’t be pinned on him. But he failed to overcome them all the same in 2024.
Outlook For 2025
Rush will turn 32 in late November. He’s also going to be an unrestricted free agent next month.
Aside from the 2020 season, when Rush was not on any NFL active roster, his entire career has been in Dallas.
He does have an overall record of 9-5 as a starter, despite last year’s results.
Rush will likely never be considered a QB1 in the NFL. But he is a good back-up in a pinch and has had solid games in the past as a starter.
He isn’t putting up Josh Allen numbers, but he can manage a game and get a win more often than not.
Which begs the question at The Star: What does Dallas do about Rush in free agency?
Do they sign him to a low-dollar contract right away? Or, do they wait and see how the draft plays out first?
There hasn’t been a whole lot of chatter about teams lining up outside the door of Rush’s agent with bags of money and contracts in hand.
The Cowboys could let Rush explore free agency while they see about drafting a late-round quarterback for the future. That option could require a journeyman quarterback to serve as QB2 behind Prescott in 2025.
Long-Term Outlook
Frankly, it seems unlikely that Rush or Lance will be on the Cowboys roster in 2025.
Neither showed they had what it took to win games for Dallas if Prescott goes down again.
One possibility is to sign free agent Carson Wentz or Taylor Heinicke to back-up Prescott in 2025 and 2026. That would only work if the Cowboys land a quarterback in the draft.
A riskier option would be to draft a late-round quarterback as QB2 and then try to sign an undrafted free agent to be the third quarterback.
That would almost be suicidal if Prescott were to go down in 2025. Hoping to hit on two rookie quarterbacks seems the equivalent of going all-in with an ace-high.
Whichever option Dallas pursues, it seems all but certain that Rush will be in a different uniform when the season begins in September.